PRWTH in Lk 2:2

dd-1 at juno.com dd-1 at juno.com
Mon Sep 28 09:20:59 EDT 1998



Denny Diehl here

I retrieved my copy of Turner's Grammar and will note
his comments.

>>	"Luke 2:2, which mentions Quirinius in
>>	connexion with an earlier census, is best
>>	translated:  "This enrollment was before
>>	that made when Quirinius was governor
>>	of Syria."  (cf. N. Turner,  Grammatical
>>	Insights Into The Greek New Testament
>>	[ Edinburgh, 1966 ], pp. 23f).

>I hope that someone will go beyond offering us this translation as
"best"
>and explain to us, whether from Turner's Grammatical Insights into the
>Greek New Testament, or elsewhere, just what the justification for 
>this translation on the basis of the Greek text might be.

The above reference to Nigel Turner's  A Grammar Of New Testament
Greek, Vol III  Syntax will be found on page 32 in the section The
Comparison Of Adjectives And Adverbs.  I will quote him as follows:

	"8.  Superlative for Comparative

	"To complete the picture, PRWTOS and ESCATOS must
	be mentioned here.  PRWTOS = PROTEROS ... Mt 27.64
	ELDER,  Jn 1:15, 30  SUPERIOR TO OR BEFORE ME,
	15:18  BEFORE US.  PRWTOS meaning FORMER and
	ESCATOS meaning LATTER occur in Mt 27:64.  Thus
	PRWTOS in Ac 1:1 is ambiguous:  either Luke is guilty of
	a popular Hellenistic mannerism or he intended to write
	three volumes.  Similarly difficult is Lk 2:2 hAUTH hH
	APOGRAFH PRWTH.  It is the first census of a series
	(if class. Greek); or first of two (if Hellenistic).  And if
	Hellenistic it could mean either the first census of the two
	made by Quirinius, or the census before the (greater)
	census made by Quirinius"

Carl, your comments please.  All the best.




___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]



More information about the B-Greek mailing list